Rug cleaning apparatus



Dec. 5, 1961 s. D. HULSH 3,011,191

RUG CLEANING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 16, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. SHELDON DAVID Huusu HTTOlQ/UEV Dec. 5, 1961 s, D, u s 3,011,191

RUG CLEANING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 16, 1959 s Sheets-Sheet 2 -,J INVENTQR.

SHELDON DAVlD Huuau W QTTOR/l/Ey Dec. 5, 1961 s. D. HULSH 3,011,191

RUG CLEANING APPARATUS Filed Deo. l6, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IIIIIIIIIII QTTORIU V United States Patent 3,011,191 RUG CLEANING APPARATUS Sheldon David Hulsh, 530 Park Ave., New York, NY. Filed Dec. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 859,965 6 Claims. (Cl. 15-49) This invention relates to a rug cleaning apparatus, and more particularly relates to a power driven rotary brush type of cleaner designed primarily for use with a moist powdered cleaning agent.

In the past, power driven rug cleaning apparatus has utilized wheels or rollers for supporting the apparatus as it moved across the surface of the rug being cleaned resulting in inefiicient cleaning by virtue of the fact that the rotating brushes were supported for penetration into the rug surface only to the extent allowed by the wheels or rollers. The present invention employs no wheels or rollers and allows the cleaning brushes to penetrate quite deeply into the carpet pile for maximum efficiency, the entire rug cleaning apparatus being supported upon the rotating brush structure.

Moreover, when employing a moist powdered cleaning agent there exists a tendency for rotating brushes to throw or scatter the cleaning agent about the room. This scattering action is oviously undesirable since the cleaning agent is removed from the brush area and hence cannot be utilized to advantage, together with the fact that the scattered cleaning agent may easily be deposited upon the lower portions of the legs of furniture placed about the room. The rug cleaning apparatus according to the present invention completely eliminates the scattering ofthe cleaning agent and hence concentrates the cleaning agent in the working region of the rotating brushes, thus also preventing the cleaning agent from being deposited upon the legs of furniture.

An additional feature of the rug cleaning apparatus according to the invention is the provision of a locking device for fixedly securing the handle of the apparatus at a desired inclination relative to the working head. This locking action is beneficial in that the working head may be then tilted by inclining the handle so that the rotating brushes engage the rug surface over a limited area to provide deeper penetration of the brush bristles and hence deeper cleaning. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a novel rug cleaning apparatus which dispenses with supporting wheels or rollers and is instead supported directly upon a system of rotating brushes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel rug cleaning apparatus which is provided with means for preventing the scattering of rug cleaning agents outwardly away from the rug'cleaning apparatus due to the rotating motion of the cleaning brushes.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel rug cleaning apparatus employing a system of rotating brushes in which each brush feeds the cleaning agent into the active brushing region of another brush so that there is a region of overlapping brush action.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel rug cleaning apparatus employing a novel operating handle adjusting device by means of which the operating handle may be locked in a particular position relative to the Working head.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will becomeapparent from a careful readingof the following specification in conjunction with an examination of the appended drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of the novel rug cleaning apparatus according to the invention;

-FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan View of the working head of the apparatus illustrating the relative positions of the brushes and their rotational direction;

- moist powdered cleaning agent employed;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary side sectional view of the working head similar to FIGURE 3, but illustrating more details of internal construction;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmented section view as would be seen when viewed along the lines 66 of FIGURE 5 and illustrating certain structural details of the brushes and the means of securing each of the rotating brushes to the driving mechanism;

FIGURE 7 is a front elevational view of the working head of the apparatus, portions of the external casework being fragmented away to reveal certain of the details of the interior construction;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the elements seen in the showing of FIGURE 5 as would be seen when viewed along the lines 8-8 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a reduced exploded view of a portion of the apparatus as seen in FIGURE 8 and illustrates most clearly various aspects of the elements comprising the handle adjustment and locking mechanism;

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary elevational view illusalong the lines 11-41 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 12 is a fragmented sectional view as would be seen when viewed along the lines 12-42 of FIGURE 8; and

FIGURE 13 is a reduced fragmentary view as would be seen when viewed along the lines 13-13 of FIGURE 8, and illustrating a latching device for holding the operating handle in an upright position.

In these several views like elements are denoted by like reference characters.

The perspective view of FIGURE 1 shows generally that the rug cleaning apparatus comprises an upright elongated hollow handle 20 secured at its base to the operating head by a clamping block 21, and having afiixed to its upper region an electrical switch 22 for controlling the energization of the drive motor by means of the electrical cord 23. The operating head is contained within a housing 24 and is secured thereto by the bolts and nuts 25 which may also be seen in the bottom view of FIGURE 2. Loosely secured to the housing 24 and disposed peripherally thereabout is a skirt 27 provided with a front slotted opening 27. As best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, the skirt 26 is loosely supported on the housing 24 by means of a plurality of inwardly extending pins '28 fixedly secured to the skirt and projecting through B side of which is secured an electrical driving motor 31 having a pair of right angle drives 32 formed integrally with the motor end bells and by means of which the motor rotor is coupled to the brush driving shafts 33 which to rotate with the driving shafts extend below the mounting plate 30. The rotatable brushes 34 are seen to each have a central hub 35 and four bristle holding arms 36 lying along radii of a circle ninety degrees displaced from each adjacent arm. As best seen in the showing of FlGUi E 6, the hub 35 is formed integrally with the arms 36 and include a pair of counterbored bosses 37 which accept a pair of downwardly extending projections 38 formed on the underside of a tub top extension member 3%. The hub top extension member 3? is centrally apertured to provide a receiving shaftway for the driving shaft 33 and is cross slotted at its upper end, as at d9, to receive the pins 41 projected centrally transversely through the chitin shafts 33 adjacent the top of the latter. When the brushes are mounted upon the shafts 33 so that the pins 4-1 are disposed within the cross-slots ill, the brushes are forced The pins 4i cxtended through the drive shafts 33 are oriented so that the brushes 3% may only be mounted upon the shafts 33 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 2 wherein the intermeshing arrangement of the brush arms 36 is clearly seen.

Returning again to FEGURE 6 will be further observed that the hub top extension member 3, contains a depression 42 formed on inside surface of the shaftway, and that the driving shaft .333 contains a spring pressed ball 43 biased radially outwardly by me; the spring 4%. When the brush 3 3 is slipped u on to the driving shaft 33, the ball 43 is pressed in against the spring 4d until the hub top extension member 339 rides up sufdciently far on the shaft 33 to present the depression 42 opposite the ball 43, whereupon the ball 43 moves radially outward under the urging of the spring 44 and partially into the depression 42 to latch the brush assembly upon the driving shaft 33. The spring force is sufficiently strong to retain the brush upon the shaft 33, although it is not so strong as to prevent relatively easy engagement and disengagement of the brushes upon the driving shaft 33.

The brush assembly 34 is completed by a hub bottom extension member 45 of open-ended hollow cylindrical form, a bottom closure plate 46, and the bolts 47 which secure the entire brush assembly together in the manner illustrated in FEGURE 6. If desired, the tubular spacers 48 may be disposed about the bolts 4'7 within the hub bottom member 45 as rigidifying elements. Finally, the brush arms 36 are each seen to be provided with a plurality of rows of bristles 49 extending downward toward the rug surface for a distance somewhat greater than the depth of the hub structure.

The function of the hub bottom structure including the extension member 45 and bottom closure plate 46 is to provide a post-like bearing support for the apparatus when the bristles 49 have penetrated into the rug to a particular depth. In those instances where it is desired to obtain deeper cleaning, the entire apparatus may be tilted downwardly either forwardly or rearwardly of its central post-like support as a fulcrum merely by elevating or depressing the operating handle 249 to a certain extent so that the plane of the brushes is inclined at an angle to the rug surface, thereby causing the bristles which at any instant are located toward the front or rear of the machine, depending upon whether the handle 2% is raised or lowered, to penetrate further down into the carpet pile. One such canted position of the apparatus is illustrated in FIGURE by the tilted dot and dash outline of the housing 24. It will be observed in this showing that while the housing 24 assumes a canted position, the peripherally surrounding skirt 26 does not so cant but remains substantially flush with the rug surface as a result of the skirt-to-housing coupling formed by the pins 28 and slots 29.

From this same showing and that of FIGURE 4 the confining action of the skirt is readily apparent because any of the moist powdered cleaning agent thrown outwardly by the brush rotation necessarily strikes the inside vertical wall of the skirt Z6, falling back upon the carpet within the confines of the skirt and hence remaining in the immediate vicinity of the rotating brushes which eventually work all of the confined cleaning agent into the nap of the rug. Of course, the cleaning agent which has been previously sprinkled upon the rug surface is constantly replenished in the brush region by passing thereinto through the front slotted opening 27 in the skirt 26 as the apparatus moves forward over the surface of the rug.

It will be observed that the bottom closure plate 46 of the cylindrical hub extension is preferably conically shaped or tapered downwardly along and inwardly toward the axis of rotation of the brush assembly to provide a coaxial pointed extremity 46a lying substantially in the horizontal plane of the free ends of the brush bristles 49. This pointed extremity or apex 46a of the conically shaped bottom plate 46 serves upon its penetration of the rug fibers not only to relieve the brush bristles from the full weight of the machine and to act as a fulcrum for tilting the front or rear of the machine downwardly, as hereinbefore described, but also and importantly to restrain the machine from any tendency to unduly slip or creep laterally under the influence of the rotating brushes. The tapered plate at the bottom of the central supporting post, while penetrating the trap of the rug sufliciently to prevent uncontrolled side slip of the machine, nevertheless permits it to be easily shifted in any desired direction by the operators controlled manipulation of the machine handle, the taper of the plate 46 being such as to permit to post to ride over the rug nap in any direction along which the machine is pushed or pulled by its handle.

Understanding now the overall general organization of the rug cleaning apparatus, attention should be now directed toward the showings of FlGURES 8 through 13 for an understanding of the adjustable locking mechanism by means of which the handle 20 may be non-shiftably secured to the operating head in any one of a continuous range of positions between two fixed limits. As seen in FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 the housing of the electrical motor 31 is cast so that the end sections 59 are of larger diameter than the central section 51, thereby forming an annular recess which extends centrally peripherally about the circumference of the motor 31. Extending inwardly from the end sections into the annular space of the motor central section 51 are a plurality of lands 52 which constitute part of the stop mechanism determining the extreme positions that the handle 20 may assume.

Disposed within the annular space and closely overlying a portion of the motor central section 51 is an arcuately curved plate 53 fitted at one end with a pair of laterally extending ears 54. As best seen in the showing of FIGURE 10, the width of the arcuate plate 53 is less than the distance between the lands 52 which face each other across the width of the motor central section 51, so that the arcuate plate 53 may slide peripherally within the annular channel. However, the lateral extent of the cars 54 is such that these cars abut the ends of a pair of lands 52 when the arcuate plate 53 is shifted peripherally about'the motor central section 51 through an angle of approximately 60 and is hence confined within this range of shiftable motion.

Disposed in overlying relationship to the arcuate plate 53 and forming one half of a circular pressure banding structure is an arcuately curved section 55 formed integrally at its top'end with one half 56 of the clamping block 21, and terminating at its lower end in one half 57 of a bottom-clamping block. The arcuate section 55 is apertured as at 58 in the region where it overlies the arcuate plate 53, and secured to the outer surface of the section 55 is a threaded bushing 59 having its threaded hole aligned in registry with the aperture 58 in the arcuate section 55. The arcuately curved section 55 is seen to extend halfway peripherally about the central motor section 51 and forms with a second section 60 a completely encircling band about the motor central section. The second section 60 includes an arcuately curved section 61 terminating at its lower end in a clamping block half 62, and at its upper end in the other half 63 of the clamping block 21.

For purposes of securing the arcuate curved plate53 in fixed relationship to the surrounding banding structure including the arcuate sections 55 and 61, the arcuate plate 53 includes a vertically turned portion 64 which terminates in an outwardly turned flange 65. The flange 65 abuts and seats upon a stepped formation 66 formed integrally with the clamping block half 56, and the clamping block half 63 includes an internally forwardly projecting portion 67 which abuts the vertical portion 64 of the arcuate plate 53 when the two halves of the clamping block 21 are assembled together. The banding structure is secured together as shown in FIGURE 8 by means of the bolts 68 and 69 which respectively secure together the two halves 56 and 63 of the clamping block 21, and the halves 57 and 62 of the lower clamping block.

The shank of a key 70 is threadedly engaged with the bushing 59 and is projectable by rotation through the aperture 58 in the arcuate section 55 into bearing engagement with the outer surface of the arcuately curved plate 53. When the key 70 is not screwed tightly down against the arcuately curved plate 53, the entire banding assembly, which carries the handle 29, is free to shift peripherally about the motor central section 51 within the limits imposed by the ears 54 of the arcuate plate 53, but when the key 70 is screwed down tightly against the arcuate plate 53 I the latter is pressed firmly against the surface of the motor central section 51 and thereby locks the handle 20 in a particular position.

Also seen in the showing of FIGURE 8 as disposed within the upper clamping block 21 is an electrical plug type connector 71, from the bottom portion of which extends a pair of electrical conductors 23 which act as a continuation of the conductors of the electrical cord 23. The conductors 23 extend downwardly through an aperture in the vertical portion 64 of the arcuately curved plate 53, pass through the motor housing as at 72 and ultimately into the motor 31. The plug connector 71 permits ready disassembly of the handleZl from the operating head when such is desired. The conductors 23' are concealed and protected by an overlying curved plate 73 anchored at its top end under the stepped formation 66 of the half 56 of the clamping block 21, and anchored at its lowered end by means of the bolt 76 projected therethrough and threadingly engaged with the arcuate section 55. The curved plate 75 is, of course, apertured as at 77 to permit passage there-through of the threaded shank of the key 7 t In order to provide a guideway for the banding structure including the arcuately curved sections 55 and 61, the motor end section walls 50 are recessed downward toward the bottom of the motor central section 51 to provide a pair of facing ledges 78 between and upon which the curved sections 55 and 61 may ride. The ledge structures 78 thus prevents lateral shifting of the banding structure and confine the motion of the latter solely to the aforedescribed peripheral shifting about the motor central section 51.

Finally, FIGURE 13 illustrates a spring clip structure by means of which the handle 20 may be releasably secured in an upright position without resorting to the locking arrangement brought into operation by rotation of the key 74). The spring latch arrangement is seen to comprise a U-shaped spring clip 79 secured to the motor mounting plate 30 which clip grasps the bottom terminal projections of the two halves 57 and 62 of the banding structure lower clamping block. While sufficient spring pressure is applied to maintain the handle 20 in an upright position, the handle 2% may be readily released from the clip by a backward directed pull requiring relatively little force.

Having now described my invention in connection with a particularly illustrated embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that various modifications and variations will occur from time to time to those persons normally skilled in the art without departing from the essential spirit or scope of the invention, and accordingly, it is intended to claim the same broadly as well as specifically as indicated by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new and useful is:

1. A rug cleaning apparatus comprising a pair of brushes each having a plurality of bristle-holding arms extending radially from a central hub and disposed in side by side relationship to one another on separate counter rotatable drive shafts for synchronouscounterrotation in a horizontal plane, the said hub of eachbrush extending downward and terminating substantially in the plane of the lower ends of the brush bristles so that the apparatus is supportable partially upon each brush hub bottom surface when the brush bristles have penetrated a predetermined distance into the nap of an underlying rug, the hub bottom surface being smooth and rotating with the brush to provide a low friction glider, said drive shafts being spaced apart a distance less than the maximum horizontal extent of one of said brushes so that the arms of said pair of brushes are necessarily intermeshed to avoid interference with one another, an electrically energizable motor coupled to the drive shafts for driving the same, a housing enclosing said motor and brushes extending downward thereabout and terminating at an elevation higher than the lower ends of the brush bristles, and an open bottomed skirt structure loosely coupled to and carried by said housing, peripherally surrounding the latter and extending vertically below the bottom edge thereof for slidably seating upon an underlying rug surface to be cleaned.

2. A rug cleaning apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination, a pair of electrically driven closely related rotatable brushes synchronously revoluble in opposite directions about laterally spaced parallel axes to feed surface-cleaning material from one brush to the other, a main housing for the brushes extending over the top of the brushes and having brush-enclosing side wall portions depending to a level spaced vertically above the surface to be cleaned, skirt means loosely coupled to and supported by said main housing to close the gap between the bottom edges of the depending side wall portions of the housing and said surface to be cleaned, said skirt being loosely coupled to said housing by means of a plurality of pins fixedly secured to said skirt and projecting inwardly therefrom into elongated vertical apertures formed in the walls of said housing, the cross-sectional area of each of said skirt pins being substantially smaller than the horizontal dimension of the housing elongated vertical apertures so that said housing may be canted relative to said skirt without unseating the skirt from the underlying rug surface, and said skirt structure being notched along a portion of its bottom edge facing the direction of movement of the apparatus to provide an entrance-way for surface-cleaning material to be fed to the brushes, said skirt notch being disposed forwardly of the brushes in the direction of movement of the apparatus and being of a width substantially greater than the distance between the centers of rotation of said brushes.

3. A rotary brush assembly comprising a main body member having a plurality of arms projecting radially,

outward from a central hub section and each fitted upon the bottom surface thereof with an elongated set of close- -ly spaced rug-engaging brush elements, the bottom surface of said main body member in the region of said central hub section being indented to provide an annular groove, a closed bottom hollow cylindrical member having its upper end seated in said groove and constituting a coaxial extension of the central hub section of said main body member, the lower end of said cylindrical hub extension being conically shaped to provide a rugengaging apex disposed substantially in the horizontal plane of the free ends of the brush bristles, a centrallyapertured shaft-engaging plate overlying the upper surface of said main body member in registry with the central hub section thereof, and bolt means extending through said shaft-engaging plate, said main body mem her and said cylindrical hub extension for threaded engagement with the bottom of the latter for securing said parts in assembled relation.

4. A rotary brush assembly comprising a main body member having a plurality of arms projecting radially outward from a central hub section and each fitted upon the bottom surface thereof with an elongated set of closely spaced rug-engaging brush elements, the bottom surface of said main body member in the region of said central hub section being indented to provide an annular groove, a closed bottom hollow cylindrical member having its upper end seated in said groove and constituting a coaxial extension of the central hub section of said main body member, a centrally apertured shaft-engaging plate overlying the upper surface of said main body member in registry with the central hub section thereof, and bolt means extending through said shaft-engaging plate, said main body member and said cylindrical hub extension for threaded engagement with the bottom of the latter for securing said parts in assembled relation, the bottom of said cylindrical hub extension is a metal plate having a rug-engaging surface which is slightly tapered downwardly along and inwardly toward the axis of rotation of the brush assembly to provide a central pointed bearing for the assembly which acts to restrain lateral side-slip of the assembly upon rug-brushing rotation thereof.

5. A rotary brush head comprising a brush support formed of moldable material having a central hub section and a plurality of coplanar radially projecting arms each fitted with an elongated set of rug-engaging brush elements, the opposite ends of said hub section being respectively fitted with a metal shaft-coupling plate and with a metal rug-engaging plate, and bolt means commonly securing together said brush support and its opposite metal end plates, the said brush sets each extending substantially to the plane of said rug-engaging plate and being spaced uniformly about the hub section whereby said hub section serves as a post about which said brush head may be forwardly or rearwardly tilted with respect to the horizontal.

6. A rotary brush head comprising a brush support formed of moldable material having a central hub section and a plurality of coplanar radially projecting arms each fitted with an elongated set of rug-engaging brush elements, the opposite ends of said hub section being respectively fitted with a metal shaft-coupling plate and with a metal rug-engaging plate, and bolt means commonly securing together said brush support and its opposite metal end plates, said metal rug-engaging plate being dished downwardly along the axis of rotation of the brush head to provide the same with a smooth bottom surface including a central projection engageable with the rug to restrain undesired side-slip of the brush head during rug-brushing rotation thereof, and to provide a low friction glider therefor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,532,289 Weinbrenner Apr. 17, 1925 2,539,211 Smith Jan. 23, 1951 2,673,996 Gerber Apr. 6, 1954 2,676,067 Verhagen Apr. 20, 1954 2,722,700 Petersen Nov. 8, 1955 2,800,372 Seyfried July 23, 1957 FORElGN PATENTS 716,035 Germany Jan. 12, 1942 1,133,028 France Nov. 1 1956 

